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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 279, Issue 13, 12093-12101, March 26, 2004
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From the
Departments of
Pharmacology and Therapeutics and
Pathology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York 14263 and the ¶Department of Oncology, Lombardi Cancer Center, Georgetown Medical Center, Washington, D. C. 20057
Received for publication, October 21, 2003 , and in revised form, January 13, 2004.
| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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The intestinal epithelium is among the most rapidly renewing tissues in the body (4). Normal homeostasis in the intestine requires tight regulation of epithelial cell growth and differentiation, and disruption of this regulation leads to a number of pathological changes including colon cancer. Two KLFs, KLF4 (also known as gut krüppel-like factor, GKLF, and epithelial zinc finger protein, EZF) and KLF5 (also known as basic transcription element-binding protein 2, BTEB2, and intestine enriched krüppel-like factor, IKLF), appear to play a central role in the regulation of intestinal epithelial renewal in both the small intestine and colon. KLF4 is expressed mainly in the non-proliferating differentiating/differentiated cells of the upper crypt and villus/surface mucosa (5, 6), suggesting that it is involved in post-mitotic events in this tissue. A role for this factor in negative growth regulation and differentiation is supported by the expression and actions of KLF4 in intestinal cell lines and other systems (e.g. 1,7,810). Furthermore, KLF4 has been implicated as a tumor suppressor in the intestine (6, 10). In contrast to KLF4, KLF5 is expressed mainly in the proliferating cells of the crypt (11, 12), suggesting that it plays a positive growth regulatory role in this tissue. A growth-promoting role for KLF5 in the intestine is further indicated by the finding that KLF5± mice have shorter crypts and villi (13). Findings in other systems also support a positive growth regulatory role for KLF5. For example, KLF5 is expressed in the proliferating cells of the skin and in activated vascular smooth muscle cells (1417), and overexpression of KLF5 in NIH 3T3 fibroblasts leads to increased growth and loss of sensitivity to negative growth stimuli (18). While these studies point to a growth-promoting role for KLF5 in the intestine, direct examination of the growth properties of KLF5 in normal intestinal (or other epithelial) tissues has not previously been reported.
Here we provide the first direct evidence that KLF5 is growth promoting in non-transformed intestinal epithelial cells. We also demonstrate that, in contrast to its effects in non-transformed cells, KLF5 has growth inhibitory properties in colon tumor-derived cells and that intestinal tumorigenesis is associated with down-regulation of KLF5. These differences in the properties of KLF5 could be recapitulated in syngeneic models of oncogenic transformation, indicating that tumor progression in the intestine is associated with a change in the function(s) of KLF5. Thus, KLF5 may have both growth promoting and tumor suppressive properties in this tissue.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
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Cell Lines and Tissue CultureIEC-18 cells (CRL-1589), a nontransformed intestinal crypt cell line derived from rat ileum, were cultured as described (22). IEC-Babe and IEC-Ras cells were generated by transfection of IEC-18 cells with pBabe-puro or pBabe-Ras, respectively. Cells were then selected with puromycin and stable transfectants were pooled. Two independent sets of IEC-Babe and IEC-Ras cells were generated in two separate parallel transfection/selection procedures. Non-transformed Immorto-Min Colon Epithelial (IMCE) cells and IMCE cells transformed by expression of v-Ha-Ras (IMCE-Ras cells) were obtained from Dr. R. Whitehead, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN (23) and were maintained in Dulbecco's-modified Eagle's medium containing 5 units/ml
-interferon, 1 unit/ml insulin, 5 mM L-glutamine, and 5% fetal bovine serum. Ward cells, derived from a dimethylhydrazine-induced rat colonic adenocarcinoma (24), were maintained in RPMI 1640, 10% fetal bovine serum, 25 mM Hepes, pH 7.4, 5 mM L-glutamine, 1 mM sodium pyruvate, and 0.2% ITS-A mixture. DLD-1 cells (CCL-221), HCT-116 cells (CCL-247), and HCT-116b cells (25), derived from human colorectal adenocarcinomas, were maintained in RPMI 1640, 10% fetal bovine serum and 5 mM L-glutamine. Cells were grown in a 5% CO2 atmosphere at 37 °C, except IMCE and IMCE-Ras cells, which were grown at 33 °C. Where indicated, PMA (10 µM in ethanol) was added at a final concentration of 100 nM for 8 h or MG132 (20 mM in dimethyl sulfoxide) was added to a final concentration of 20 µM for 68 h (control cells were treated with vehicle alone).
Colony Formation AssaysIEC-18, Ward and DLD-1 cells (0.51 x 105) were transfected in 6 well plates with 5 µg of pBKCMV-KLF5 or pBKCMV using 8 µl of FuGENE 6 transfection reagent (Roche Applied Science). IMCE and IMCE-Ras cells were transfected with 4 µg of plasmid DNA using LipofectAMINE 2000 (Invitrogen). After 2448 h, cells were maintained in medium containing G418 (1.5 mg/ml for IEC-18 and 0.6 mg/ml for Ward and DLD-1, 1 mg/ml for IMCE and IMCE-Ras) prior to staining with 2% methylene blue/70% methanol for quantitation/imaging of colonies.
Reporter Gene AssaysCells (0.5 x 105) were transfected as above with 2 µg of cyclin D1- or p21-luciferase, 1 µg of pRL-TK, and 2 µg of pBKCMV or pBKCMV-KLF5. After 24 h, luciferase activity was assayed using the Luciferase Reporter Assay System (Promega). Background luminescence (determined using cells transfected without reporter plasmids) was subtracted from observed luminescence values and values were normalized to cell number. Fold change relative to control was calculated by dividing luminescence values for a particular reporter by the average luminescence obtained with that reporter in the presence of pBKCMV.
Flow CytometrySubconfluent PMA-treated and control cells were stained with propidium iodide and cell cycle distribution was determined as described (22).
Western BlottingCells were harvested with 1% SDS, 0.1 M Tris-HCl, pH 7.4, and 20 µg of protein were subjected to Western blot analysis and densitometric quantitation essentially as described (22). Membranes were probed with 2 µg/ml anti-KLF5 antibody or 2 µg/ml anti-KLF5 and 2 µg/ml blocking peptide. Equal loading in lanes was confirmed by Fast Green staining of membranes. Apparent molecular weights were calculated from the migration of Kaleidoscope Prestained Standards (Bio-Rad).
Northern AnalysisTotal cellular RNA was isolated using the RNAeasy system (Qiagen), separated on 1% agarose/formaldehyde gels and transferred to Nylon membrane as described (26). Integrity of RNA and equal loading was confirmed by ethidium bromide staining (26). Membranes were probed with randomly primed 32P-labeled KLF5 cDNA probe using Quickhyb solution (Stratagene) and visualized/quantified by phosphorimaging using the Storm 840/ImageQuant system (Amersham Biosciences).
Short Interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated KLF5 Down-regulation HCT116b cells (4 x 104) were transfected with 1.5 µg siRNA using LipofectAMINE 2000 according to the manufacturer's recommendation and medium was changed after 46 h. For determination of KLF5 mRNA expression, cells were extracted in Trizol reagent (Invitrogen), and RNA was purified according to the manufacturer's instructions. Levels of GAPDH, KLF5 and KLF4 in RNA samples were determined by RT-PCR using the Access RT-PCR system (Promega) as recommended. Reaction products were separated on 1.5% agarose gels containing ethidium bromide, visualized using an AlphaImaging System (Alpha Innotech) and quantified with ImageQuant Software (Amersham Biosciences). For determination of effects on cell growth, cells were harvested by trypsinization at 48 and 96 h after transfection, and cell number was determined using a ZM model Coulter Counter.
KLF5 siRNA (sense 5'-AAGCUCACCUGAGGACUCAUU-3'; anti-sense 5'-UGAGUCCUCAGGUGAGCUUUU-3') and was produced using the SilencerTM siRNA Construction kit (Ambion) as described (27). Oligonucleotides for RT-PCR were as follows: human KLF5 (TGCCATTTTCAGCCACCAGAGTGA, CGGGGGAAAGTAAGTGGCCTGTTG), human GAPDH (CCACCCATGGCAAATTCCATGGCA, TCTAGACGGCAGGTCAGGTCCACC), and human KLF4 (CTGATGGGCAAGTTCGTGCTGAAG, CGGGTGGCATGAGCTCTTGGTAAT).
Analysis of mRNA in Normal Intestinal Epithelial Crypt Cells and Adenoma CellsHuman tissue was obtained from the Tissue Procurement Facility at RPCI. Pure cell populations from APCmin mouse or FAP tissues were procured using the Arcturus PIXCell II LCM system. Cells were dissected from hematoxylin- and eosin-stained 10-µm frozen sections using 15-µm diameter laser pulses at 25 Mv; 8001200 pulses obtained
20003000 cells. Only histologically intact intestinal crypt epithelial cells or adenoma cells were microdissected, while other components in the sections, including non-crypt epithelium, stromal cells, endothelial cells and inflammatory cells were avoided. Thus, intestinal crypt samples contained only crypt cells while adenoma samples contained close to 100% neoplastic cells. For isolation of proliferating cells from APCmin mouse crypts, cells were dissected from only the lower-to-mid crypt and Paneth cells were avoided. RNA was purified using the RNA Micro Isolation kit (Stratagene) with DNase treatment (absence of contaminating DNA was confirmed by performing reverse transcription-polymerse chain reactions (RT-PCR) without reverse transcriptase). RT-PCR was performed as above, except that reactions contained 0.5 µCi of [
-32P]CTP. Reaction products were separated by 5% polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and visualized/quantitated by phosphorimaging with the Storm 840/ImageQuant system (Amersham Biosciences). Amounts of sample in assays were adjusted to be within the linear range of the assay and to contain equivalent amounts of RNA (based on glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) expression). Primers were as above or as follows: mouse KLF5 (CCATTTTCAGCCACCAGAGCGAGT, ACGGGGGAAAATAAGTGGCCTGCT) and mouse GAPDH (GGCAAAGTGGAGATTGTTGC, AGCTCTGGGATGACCTTGC).
Statistical AnalysisStatistical analysis used the two-tailed Student's t test and p values < 0.05 were considered significant. Errors represent S.E.
| RESULTS |
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30% of cells) under the conditions used. To determine if differences in the expression of exogenous KLF5 could account for these differential effects, IEC-18 and DLD-1 cells were transfected with either the pBKCMV control vector or KLF5 expression vector and subjected to Western analysis with an antibody raised against a peptide from the N-terminal half of KLF5. The anti-KLF5 antibody detected two immunoreactive protein bands which were specific for KLF5 based on their increased levels in cells transfected with KLF5 cDNA (Fig. 1C) and the reduced signal obtained in the presence of blocking peptide (see Fig. 2). In IEC-18 cells, the predominant band was
65 kDa with a band at
60 kDa sometimes detected, whereas in DLD-1 cells, the major band was at
60 kDa with a faint band seen at
65kDa (KLF5 was also detected at
60 kDa in HCT-116 colon cancer cells, see below). The sizes for KLF5 seen here are in agreement with other studies that have detected KLF5 protein at 5760 kDa in mouse and between 57 kDa and 66 kDa in different human cell lines (13, 17, 28). While control DLD-1 cells express lower levels of KLF5 than IEC-18 cells, the protein is expressed at comparable levels following transfection with KLF5 cDNA (Fig. 1C). This similar level of expression in KLF5-transfected cells likely reflects a balance between differences in KLF5 protein stability (higher in IEC-18 cells; see below) and CMV promoter activity (which is 9.5 ± 0.6-fold higher in DLD-1 cells based on pCMV-TK activity). Transfection efficiency of these cells was estimated at
30% using the enhanced green fluorescent protein expressing vector (data not shown); thus, the observed levels of protein represent an
34-fold higher expression of KLF5 in transfected IEC-18 and DLD-1 cells than in vector control IEC-18 cells. Collectively, these data demonstrate that differences in the expression of KLF5 cannot account for the differential growth effects of its overexpression in these cell lines. Thus, KLF5 enhances growth in non-transformed intestinal epithelial cells but inhibits the growth of tumor-derived intestinal cells.
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KLF5 Protein Expression Is Differentially Regulated in IEC-18 and Colon Tumor-derived CellsWe have previously reported that the phorbol ester, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), induces a protein kinase C (PKC)
-mediated G1 and G2/M phase cell cycle arrest in IEC-18 cells (22, 32). As shown in Fig. 2A, treatment of DLD-1 cells with PMA similarly decreased the proportion of cells in S-phase and increased the proportion in G2/M. Thus, although the effect in DLD-1 cells was somewhat less marked than that seen in IEC-18 cells (presumably reflecting the relatively low level of PKC
expression in intestinal tumor-derived cells, Refs. 22, 33, and 34),2 PMA treatment inhibits cell growth in both the non-transformed and tumor-derived intestinal epithelial cells. To test the effects of PMA on expression of KLF5, IEC-18, and DLD-1 cells were treated with 100 nM PMA and subjected to Western blot analysis (Ward cells were not used in these experiments because they did not have detectable levels of KLF5 protein; data not shown). As noted above, proliferating IEC-18 cells had higher levels of KLF5 protein than proliferating DLD-1 cells (it should be noted that, since the levels of KLF5 in the non-transformed cells from which DLD-1 cells were derived is unknown, the relationship of this difference to the transformed phenotype cannot be determined). However, these two cell lines differed in the regulation of KLF5 expression in response to PMA-induced growth inhibition. Consistent with the positive correlation of KLF5 expression and cell growth in the normal intestinal epithelium, PMA treatment led to a 34-fold reduction (3.8 ± 0.7-fold, n = 4) in the level of KLF5 detected in IEC-18 cells (Fig. 2B). However, PMA treatment of DLD-1 cells led to a modest but consistent increase (1.7 ± 0.1-fold, n = 4) in the detection of KLF5 (Fig. 2B), indicating that its expression is negatively associated with growth in these cells (PMA similarly induced expression of KLF5 in HCT-116 and HCT-116b human colon cancer cells; see below). Thus, in addition to the differences in the effect of KLF5 expression on cell growth, non-transformed and tumor-derived intestinal epithelial cells also differ with regard to growth regulation of KLF5 protein expression.
Ras-mediated Transformation of Intestinal Epithelial Cells Leads to Altered Growth-Related Properties of KLF5The above data demonstrated that the growth-related properties of KLF5 differed between non-transformed intestinal epithelial cells and colon tumor-derived cells; thus, the link between oncogenic transformation and the properties of KLF5 was directly investigated using the ability of activated Ras to transform intestinal epithelial cell lines. Two syngeneic models were used to examine different aspects of KLF5 function. One consisted of non-transformed IMCE cells, derived from Immorto-Min mouse colonic epithelium, and IMCE-Ras cells, viral Ha-Ras transformed derivatives of IMCE cells: these cell lines have been extensively characterized with regard to oncogenic transformation (e.g. Ref. 23). The other consisted of IEC-18 cells transformed by expression of activated Ras. For this model, IEC-18 cells were transfected with activated (V12) Ha-Ras expression vector (pBabe-Ras) or empty vector (pBabe-puro) and selected with puromycin. Properties of KLF5 were then compared in pooled populations of stable Ras-expressing (IEC-Ras) and control empty vector-containing (IEC-Babe) cells generated in parallel. The growth properties of IEC-Ras and IEC-Babe cells were consistent with the well characterized ability of activated Ras to transform IEC-18 cells (e.g. Ref. 35): IEC-Babe cells were contact inhibited for growth, consistent with a non-transformed phenotype, whereas IEC-Ras cells were not contact inhibited and could form multilayered cultures, consistent with a transformed phenotype (data not shown).
As seen with IEC-18 cells, KLF5 enhanced colony formation in the non-transformed IMCE cells (Fig. 3, A and B). However, KLF5 inhibited colony formation in IMCE-Ras cells (Fig. 3). These data are strikingly similar to those obtained with the colon tumor cell lines and indicate that Ras-mediated transformation alters the growth-related properties of KLF5 in intestinal epithelial cells.
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Transformation of Intestinal Epithelial Cells Is Associated with Down-regulation of KLF5While tumor-derived DLD-1 cells express lower levels of KLF5 protein than IEC-18 cells, this difference cannot be equated with tumor progression since the level of KLF5 in the non-transformed colon epithelial cells in the patient from which DLD-1 cells were derived is unknown. Therefore, levels of KLF5 protein were compared in control and Ras-transformed derivatives of IMCE and IEC-18 cells. As shown in Fig. 4A, although IMCE cells express low levels of KLF5 compared with IEC-Babe cells, the protein could be detected in both cell types. In contrast, KLF5 protein was barely detectable in the IMCE-Ras and IEC-Ras cells, indicating that transformation of these cells leads to down-regulation of KLF5 expression. This down-regulation was particularly marked in IEC-Ras cells, which had an
8-fold reduction in KLF5 protein expression compared with IEC-Babe cells. While Ras-transformation also led to substantial down-regulation of KLF5 in IMCE cells, the levels of expression in these cells were too low to allow evaluation of the degree of this down-regulation. IMCE-Ras cells showed a 2 to 4-fold down-regulation of KLF5 mRNA relative to IMCE cells (Fig. 4A), indicating that down-regulation of KLF5 in transformed intestinal epithelial cells can be mediated by loss of mRNA expression. Interestingly, while a modest (1.6 ± 0.1-fold, n = 5) down-regulation of KLF5 mRNA was also observed in IEC-Ras cells compared with IEC-Babe cells (Fig. 4), this effect was much less than that seen for the protein (8.4 ± 0.3-fold, n = 7), indicating that Ras-transformation also affected KLF5 expression through translational or post-translational mechanisms. Based on these findings, potential alterations in protein stability were examined using the proteasome inhibitor, MG132. In control IEC-Babe cells, MG132 treatment led to a modest (<2-fold) increase in KLF5 protein levels. In contrast, MG132 enhanced KLF5 expression by >10-fold in the IEC-Ras cells, restoring expression to levels close to those seen in IEC-Babe cells (Fig. 4B). Thus, alterations in proteasomal degradation pathways appear to play a major role in the down-regulation of KLF5 in Ras-transformed IEC-18 cells (MG132 did not have a significant effect on KLF5 mRNA; data not shown).
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In contrast to the findings in Ras-transformed IEC-18 cells, MG132 had little effect on KLF5 expression in IMCE-Ras (or IMCE) cells (Fig. 4D), arguing that down-regulation of the protein in these cells was due mainly due to reduced expression of its mRNA. These findings indicate that transformation of intestinal epithelial cells can lead to at least two independent mechanisms of KLF5 down-regulation.
KLF5 Is Down-regulated with Tumor Progression in Unperturbed Syngeneic Human Colon Cancer CellsHCT-116 and HCT-116b cells were derived from the same tumor and thus represent human colon cancer cells with identical genetic backgrounds. While both of these cell lines are transformed and form tumors in nude mice, HCT-116 cells have a more progressed tumor phenotype than HCT-116b cells, as characterized by more rapid proliferation and markedly higher tumorigenicity (25). Thus, these cells were examined to determine the relationship of KLF5 expression with proliferation and tumorigenicity in an unperturbed syngeneic model of human colon cancer progression. Consistent with data from other transformed cells, KLF5 appears to be growth inhibitory in both of these cell lines since (a) overexpression of KLF5 inhibited colony formation and cyclin D1 transcription, and (b) PMA-induced growth arrest was accompanied by up-regulation of the protein (data not shown and Fig. 5A). MG132 treatment enhanced KLF5 protein levels by
10-fold in HCT-116b cells (Fig. 5A), indicating that, as with HCT-116 cells, protein stability plays a major role in regulation of KLF5 in these cells. However, HCT-116b cells have markedly higher levels of KLF5 mRNA than HCT-116 cells, which is reflected in elevated expression of the protein (Fig. 5B). Thus, tumor progression in these syngeneic cell lines is associated with down-regulation of KLF5 mRNA, which occurs in addition to prior destabilization of the protein. Together with data obtained from other cell lines, these data indicate that reduced expression of both KLF5 mRNA and protein correlate with enhanced proliferation and tumorigenicity in these human colon cancer cell lines.
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Down-regulation of KLF5 mRNA During Intestinal Tumor Progression in VivoTo further evaluate changes in KLF5 expression during tumor progression in the intestine in vivo, cells were isolated from the normal crypt epithelium and from adenomas of APCmin mice by laser capture microdissection (LCM) and RNA from these cells was subjected to RT-PCR. This analysis indicated that expression of KLF5 mRNA is markedly lower in adenoma cells than in proliferating crypt cells of the APCmin mouse intestine (Fig. 6A). RT-PCR analysis of LCM samples from a familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) patient also detected reduced levels of KLF5 mRNA in adenomas compared with normal crypt intestinal mucosa (Fig. 6B). Thus, down-regulation of KLF5 occurs as an early event in intestinal tumor progression.
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| DISCUSSION |
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It is likely that the role of KLF5 in normal and transformed intestinal epithelium is similar in the colon and small intestine since (a) KLF5 expression is limited to the growing cells of the crypt in both the small intestine and colon (12), (b) KLF5 enhances colony formation in non-transformed cells derived from both the ileum (IEC-18) and colon (IMCE), and (c) down-regulation of KLF5 was seen in both APCmin mouse and FAP adenomas, which arise from the small intestine and colon, respectively, as well as in Ras-transformed IEC-18 and IMCE cells. Thus, it would appear that KLF5 has a positive growth effect throughout the normal intestine, but that tumor progression in this tissue leads to a change in its growth-related functions.
Although KLF5 is generally regarded as a transcriptional activator, as with other KLFs, its activity is likely to be context-dependent (1). For example, while KLF5 activates the SM22
and SMemb promoters, it represses the KLF4 and lactoferrin promoters (1, 13, 28, 29). The activity of other KLFs has been found to be cell type- as well as promoter-dependent (1), and the data presented here indicate that this may also be the case for KLF5. Thus, the differences in the effects of KLF5 expression in normal and tumor-derived/Ras-transformed cells may arise from changes in the cellular context that occur during intestinal tumor progression. How expression of activated Ras and/or other factors implicated in intestinal tumor progression affect the activity of KLF5 is currently under investigation.
Our findings demonstrate that, at the transcriptional level, KLF5 enhances cyclin D1 promoter activity in non-transformed IEC-18 cells but not in tumor-derived or Ras-transformed cells. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that KLF5 can alter cyclin D1 promoter activity. Since cyclin D1 is critical in intestinal epithelial cell growth regulation (e.g. Ref. 36), these findings are likely to bear directly on the ability of KLF5 to selectively enhance growth in the non-transformed cells. Studies are in progress to determine whether KLF5 affects cyclin D1 promoter activity through direct or indirect mechanisms.
KLF5 was detected at two apparent molecular weights in the cell lines tested, with the predominant band being different in rodent (IEC-18 and IMCE) and human (DLD-1 and HCT-116) cells. These differences cannot be attributed to species-specific sequence differences in KLF5 since: (a) analysis of the NCBI rat genome data base indicated that KLF5 is highly (>90%) conserved between humans, mice, and rats (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome/guide/rat and Refs. 12 and 28), (b) although KLF5 was detected predominantly at one size in each cell line, bands corresponding to both molecular weights were detected in a given cell type, and (c) exogenously expressed protein co-migrated with the endogenous protein in different cell types. Differences in the size of in vitro-translated human KLF5 and the protein in cell extracts have been noted, further indicating that it is post-translationally modified (17, 28). Furthermore, the reported size of cellular human KLF5 ranges from 5766 kDa, indicating that it may be differentially modified in different cell types. Recently, phosphorylation of KLF5 has been reported to affect its interaction with CBP/p300 (37), transcriptional coactivators implicated in carcinogenesis (38, 39). Although it is tempting to speculate that alterations in post-translational modification are responsible for the differences in KLF5 activity in non-transformed and tumor-derived intestinal cells, it should be noted that Ras-transformation of IEC-18 cells did not affect the apparent molecular weight of KLF5 seen following MG132 treatment. Whether the different sizes of KLF5 seen here reflect differences in post-translational modification and how these differences relate to its altered regulation and activity in the different cell types is currently under investigation.
In addition to the data presented here, several other studies have indicated that KLF5 is modulated by phorbol esters. Phorbol esters have been shown to upregulate KLF5 mRNA levels and/or transcription in mammary, vascular smooth muscle and NIH 3T3 cells (13, 18, 40). This has led to the proposal that KLF5 is a direct target of PKC signaling; however, the opposing effects of PMA in IEC-18 and tumor-derived/transformed cells indicates that, at least in the intestinal system, the actions of PMA may be secondary to its effects on cell growth. The precise relationship between KLF5, PKC signaling and cell growth status will require a more detailed analysis of the relationship between phorbol ester-induced down-regulation of PKCs and their effects on cell growth in the various systems.
Evidence presented in this report indicates that KLF5 expression is down-regulated by multiple mechanisms in intestinal tumors. Use of the proteasome inhibitor, MG132, indicated that KLF5 protein is destabilized in tumor-derived colon cancer cells and Ras-transformed IEC-18 cells. Rapid proteasomal degradation of transfected Gal4-KLF5 fusion proteins has recently been noted in endometrial carcinoma cells (37); thus, enhanced instability of KLF5 protein may be a common mechanism for the regulation of its expression in various tumor types. In addition to changes in protein stability, analysis of syngeneic colon cancer cell lines and patient samples indicated that intestinal tumor progression can be associated with down-regulation of KLF5 mRNA, an effect also seen following Ras-transformation of IMCE cells. These mechanisms of down-regulation can occur independently and sequentially during tumor progression since: (a) while the syngeneic HCT116 and HCT116b cells both showed destabilization of KLF5 protein, the levels of KLF5 mRNA are markedly lower in the more progressed HCT116 cells, and (b) in IMCE-Ras and IEC-Ras cells, KLF5 is down-regulated predominantly by reduction of mRNA expression and destabilization of protein, respectively. The detection of two independent mechanisms for down-regulation of KLF5 that can occur sequentially during tumor progression argues that KLF5 is a direct target for down-regulation during intestinal tumor progression and that its reduced expression is not simply a byproduct of changes targeting other factors. Furthermore, use of siRNA against KLF5 indicated that reduced expression of KLF5 in HCT116b colon tumor cells leads to enhanced cell growth. By underscoring the importance of reducing KLF5 expression for intestinal tumors, these data reinforce its role as an inhibitory factor in intestinal tumor progression.
Although, to our knowledge, the current study is the first to directly demonstrate a growth promoting role for KLF5 in non-transformed epithelial cells and to highlight alterations in this function during tumor progression, evidence suggests that similar changes may occur during tumor progression in other tissues. For example, although KLF5 appears to be associated with proliferating cells in all normal epithelial tissues examined, the human klf5 gene is located at chromosome 13q21, a region frequently deleted in cancers including those of the breast and prostate (41, 42). Thus, KLF5 may have tumor suppressor properties in other epithelial cancer types. Indeed, reports published during preparation of this article provide evidence that KLF5 is a potential tumor suppressor in breast and prostate cancer, where >70% of tumors show down-regulation of KLF5 expression (41, 43). Several other KLFs, including KLF4, KLF6, and KLF10, have been implicated in tumor progression (1, 44). By providing the first direct demonstration of a difference in the effects of KLF5 in normal and tumor-derived cells, the data presented in this report establish the idea that, not only can KLFs contribute to the development of tumors, but the role of a particular KLF can change during tumor progression.
| FOOTNOTES |
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This article is dedicated to the late Dr. Alexander Bloch in recognition of his support and encouragement. ![]()
|| To whom correspondence should be addressed: Dept. of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Elm and Carlton Streets, Buffalo, NY 14263. Tel.: 716-845-3090; Fax: 716-845-8857; E-mail: adrian.black{at}roswellpark.org.
1 The abbreviations used are: KLF, krüppel-like factor; APC, adenomatous polyposis coli; BTEB2, basic transcription element binding protein 2; CMV, cytomegalovirus, EZF, epithelial zinc finger protein; FAP, familial adenomatous polyposis; GAPDH, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; GKLF, gut krüppel-like factor; IKLF, intestine-enriched krüppel-like factor; IMCE; immorto-min colonic epithelial; LCM, laser capture microdissection; PKC, protein kinase C; PMA, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate; siRNA, short interfering RNA; RT-PCR, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. ![]()
2 J. D. Black, O. V. Leontieva, A. R. Black, and N. W. Bateman, unpublished data. ![]()
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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